Tag: Chen Ganon

German prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Chen Ganon last year. The arrest warrant was suspended on bail. There is already an indictment and the trial will follow shortly. Ganon was one of the lieutenants of convicted cybercrime mastermind Gal Barak. As the manager in charge of the SafeMarkets scam Ganon was responsible for thousands of victims worldwide from whom millions were stolen. Ganon ran the boiler room behind SafeMarkets in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Gal Barak, an Israeli cybercrime mastermind, sentenced to four years in prison in Vienna in Sept 2020 for investment fraud and money laundering, was charged in Germany in 2021. His Austrian lawyer appealed the extradition, citing the principle of ne bis in idem. In March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Barak could be charged in Germany. The German Court still works on the new schedule. Hence, victims are still waiting for justice and restitution payments!

Israeli cybercrime mastermind Gal Barak was sentenced in Vienna in September 2020 to four years imprisonment for investment fraud and money laundering. In 2021, Gal Barak was to be extradited from the Austrian prison to Germany because he was also to be charged there. His lawyer has appealed against this, invoking the principle of ne bis in idem. Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Gal Barak can be charged in Germany.

The news is actually not really new anymore. The Israeli Chen Ganon was arrested in Cyprus a few weeks ago at the request of the German public prosecutor's office. Ganon was one of the managers in Gal Barak's cybercrime organization. He was responsible for the broker scam SafeMarkets and has worked in the boiler rooms in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. We spoke with Ganon several times in 2018, and he confirmed the allegations against Gal Barak and E&G Bulgaria.

Chen Ganon was one of the former lieutenants of the convicted principal of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria, Gal Barak. He was the manager in charge of the broker scam SafeMarkets and has managed the boiler rooms in Belgrade and Sarajevo. Until recently, only the Austrian law enforcement prosecuted Ganon. Now the Bamberg prosecutor's office also prosecutes Ganon in Germany.

Update: we have been informed that Ben Gettemans was not only the personal driver of Gal Barak but also...

The sentence was even a bit harder than we expected. On January 12, 2022, the verdict against the Israeli citizen Jacki Fitelzon was handed down in the court in Munich. The Israeli was one of the co-conspirators of Gal Barak, the so-called Wolf of Sofia. Fitelzon had pleaded guilty to the charges and has now been sentenced to 82 months in prison for commercial and gang fraud. It was also confiscated €760,000. The sentence is not yet final. Fitelzon asked to be transferred to a rehab facility, which the court ordered!

On day #1 of the Munich Trial, the 44-year old Israeli Jacki Fitelzon offered a guilty plea including a full and comprehensive confession in exchange for a moderate sentence. Prosecutor and the defense attorney agreed on a sentencing between 78 to 84 months prison time. The final decision is up to the judge. In addition, the defense attorney offered that all the claims of the victims represented by EFRI would be recognized. The prosecutor started with his questions before the trial was adjourned to next Friday.

Israeli Gal Barak is a nice and funny guy in private. But yet his business is scams and online investment fraud. He was one of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria principals and was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in September 2020. He was the Wolf of Sofia! Remarkably friendly sentencing given the alleged €200 million his victims' losses amounts to. His Israeli lieutenants Tal-Jacki "Jacki" Fitelzon and Kfir Levy, are currently in pre-trial detainment in Germany. The trial against "Jacki" will start on November 22, 2021, in Munich. Others will follow suit. Another update!

We already reported a few weeks ago about the upcoming indictment of Israeli Tal-Jacki Zecharia Fitelzon. The 44-year-old guy was a lieutenant of the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria of Gal Barak, the "Wolf of Sofia." The latter was sentenced to four years in prison in Vienna in September 2020. The Central Office Cybercrime Bavaria (ZKB) has filed charges against Fitelzon for defrauding 335 German victims of approximately €8.7 million. Fitelzon must now face a trial in Munich. Further charges surrounding E&G Bulgaria will follow.

Gal Barak was sentenced in the Vienna Cybercrime Trials as one of the masterminds behind the cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria to four years in prison and millions in restitution payments for investment fraud and money laundering. His Bulgarian wife Marina Barak faces the same charges and is currently on trial. Gal Barak gave false testimony at the trial of his wife and was consequently charged by the prosecution for that. As private prosecutors, the EFRI lawyer and its principal Elfriede Sixt accompany the trials representing the victims' voice!

The second day in the trial against Marina Barak (previously Marina Andreeva), the former CFO of the Israeli-Bulgarian cybercrime organization E&G Bulgaria was being held today. The judges continued their questioning. Moreover, her husband, Gal Barak, was also scheduled to testify. He was already sentenced in September 2020 as principal and CEO of E&G Bulgaria to four years in prison and is currently in prison in Austria. In the run-up, Gal Barak had unpacked and accused his former partners and employees like Ilan Tzorya or Boyan Popov.